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Explore Nolan Park

Jul 14, 2014 2:58 pm

There are tons of fun and free activ­i­ties for the whole fam­i­ly on Gov­er­nors Island this sum­mer – espe­cial­ly in Nolan Park.

[cap­tion id=“attachment_7739” align=“aligncenter” width=“468”] Take a look at the his­toric 19th cen­tu­ry offi­cers’ homes in Nolan Park, all paint­ed yel­low. Image cour­tesy of The Trust.[/caption]

The park is a rem­nant of the 19th cen­tu­ry, lined by charm­ing yel­low hous­es that were once home to mil­i­tary offi­cers. These homes now serve anoth­er pur­pose – every sum­mer arts and cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions turn the Nolan Park hous­es into exhibits, shops, and activ­i­ty spaces.

Stop by build­ing 4A and you’ll be sur­round­ed by the mas­ter­ful pho­tog­ra­phy of Robert Capa; head over to build­ing 18 to expe­ri­ence NYC dur­ing the Civ­il War; and if you find your­self in build­ing 10B, you’ll be privy to an array of one-of-a-kind, hand-made crafts by Brook­lyn ARTery. A full list­ing of sum­mer pro­grams in Nolan Park can be found at the end of this post!

[cap­tion id=“attachment_7741” align=“aligncenter” width=“468”]capa_kodachrome 023 Vis­it the ​“Capa in Col­or” exhib­it to see what every­one’s look­ing at! Image cour­tesy of ICP.[/caption]

Nolan Park is also a won­der­ful spot to relax in the shade of an elm tree, set up a pic­nic, or enjoy a walk along criss­cross­ing brick path­ways. The south end of the park is espe­cial­ly scenic – there you can find the Chapel of Saint Cor­nelius, anoth­er exhi­bi­tion cen­ter that hous­es some of the most spec­tac­u­lar per­for­mances on Gov­er­nors Island!

[cap­tion id=“attachment_7740” align=“aligncenter” width=“361”]GSA13 St. Cor­nelius Chapel in Nolan Park. Image cour­tesy of The Trust.[/caption]

What to do in Nolan Park:

- Enjoy the Park! While there are many excit­ing events offered in the hous­es of Nolan Park, the Park itself is a tran­quil area full of cen­tu­ry-old trees that offer great shade. Make time for a pic­nic, relax on a bench to do some peo­ple watch­ing, or just go for a leisure­ly stroll.

[cap­tion id=“attachment_7747” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]Take a walk through Nolan Park and be surrounded by the charms of 19th century New York. Take a walk through Nolan Park and be sur­round­ed by the charms of 19th cen­tu­ry New York. Image cour­tesy of The Trust.[/caption]

- Capa in Col­or and a pre­view of Sebas­tiao Sal­ga­do: Gen­e­sis (Pre­sent­ed by the Inter­na­tion­al Cen­ter of Pho­tog­ra­phy). Thurs­days through Sun­days from 11:30AM — 5:30PM. House 4A. View a cap­ti­vat­ing selec­tion of col­or pho­tographs by Robert Capa and pre­view the upcom­ing ICP exhi­bi­tion ​“Sebastião Sal­ga­do: Genesis.”

- Par­al­lax (Pre­sent­ed by the Holo­cen­ter). Week­ends from 12PM — 6PM. House 4B. See puz­zling and tan­ta­liz­ing works of holo­graph­ic artistry plus glass­es-free 3‑D photography. 

- Sur­prise House. August 16th — Sep­tem­ber 14th. House 6B. Embrace the uncer­tain & engi­neer the unex­pect­ed — play, con­nect, and explore the unknown in this mys­te­ri­ous house designed by Sur­prise Industries. 

- Envi­sion the Dream — Art­work by Seniors. Sep­tem­ber 5th — 21st from 10AM — 6PM. House 10A.  Eleven senior artists exhib­it work in group and solo exhi­bi­tions. Because the art world tends to focus on new and upcom­ing artists or estab­lished artists, often mid-career senior artists find them­selves over­looked by the main­stream media. This exhi­bi­tion will draw atten­tion and recog­ni­tion to a diverse group of tal­ent­ed senior artists work­ing in both tra­di­tion­al and non-tra­di­tion­al styles. 

[cap­tion id=“attachment_7751” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]See captivating artwork such as this at the "Envision the Dream" exhibit. Image courtesy of New Century Artists, Inc. See cap­ti­vat­ing art­work such as this at the ​“Envi­sion the Dream” exhib­it. Image cour­tesy of New Cen­tu­ry Artists, Inc.[/caption]

- Brook­lyn ARTery. Week­ends from 10AM-5PM. Work­shop on Sat­ur­days from 2PM — 4PM. House 10B. Stop by for beau­ti­ful hand­bags, jew­el­ry, arti­sanal food, house­wares, scarves, beau­ty prod­ucts and more! Also fea­tur­ing The ARTery Gallery — a rotat­ing exhib­it of pro­fes­sion­al artists.

- Free Art Island Out­post (Pre­sent­ed by the Chil­dren’s Muse­um of the Arts). Week­ends from 10AM — 5PM. Hous­es 11 & 14. Col­lab­o­rate with oth­er vis­i­tors on a vari­ety of themed art work­shops includ­ing paint­ing, sound design, sculp­ture, ani­ma­tion, pod­cast­ing, and more!

- Bet­ter than Jam. Fri­days & Mon­days from 11AM — 5PM. Week­ends from 10AM — 6PM. House 16. The Brook­lyn shop of all local­ly hand­made prod­ucts will be tak­ing the fer­ry ride over, and bring­ing with it the cre­ations of New York City’s most tal­ent­ed design­ers, artists and crafters. With the help of the Etsy New York Street Team, the shop will also host fam­i­ly-friend­ly demon­stra­tions and work­shops on Sat­ur­days from 2PM — 4PM to show and teach vis­i­tors some of their skills

 — Road­side Attrac­tion (Pre­sent­ed by Third Rail Projects). Open Stu­dios: 8⁄2, 8⁄22, 9⁄13, from 1PM — 5PM; 9⁄16, 9⁄17, from 10AM-12PM; Work­shops: 7⁄23, 8⁄2, from 1PM — 5PM; Invit­ed Show­ing: 9⁄18 through 9⁄21, from 12PM — 6PM. House 17. Third Rail Projects will host open out­door rehearsals, open stu­dios, pub­lic work­shops, and per­for­mances through­out the sum­mer based on a mobile, site-spe­cif­ic dance/​theater work for 6 per­form­ers and a 1970’s Cole­man pop-up camper [cap­tion id=“attachment_7750” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]Don't miss the whimsical and energetic performances of "Roadside Attraction." Image courtesy of Third Rail Projects. Don’t miss the whim­si­cal and ener­getic per­for­mances of ​“Road­side Attrac­tion.” Image cour­tesy of Third Rail Projects.[/caption]

- The Civ­il War & NYC (Pre­sent­ed by the New York His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety). Week­ends from 10AM — 6:30PM. House 18.  The exhi­bi­tion por­trays the com­plex­i­ties that arose in our city dur­ing the peri­od of the Amer­i­can Civ­il War. Using pho­tographs, news­pa­pers, and works of art, Stu­dent His­to­ri­an Teen Lead­ers have curat­ed a nuanced view of the Civ­il War show­ing mul­ti­ple per­spec­tives and many surprises. 

- Trans­FOR­Ma­tion (Pre­sent­ed by the Sculp­tor’s Guild). Fri­days through Sun­days from 11AM — 5PM. House 19.  This exhi­bi­tion encom­pass­es six sep­a­rate­ly themed shows as well as out­door work. 

- Tat­tered & Torn: Part 2 (Pre­sent­ed by Empire His­toric Arts Dis­trict). Week­ends from 11AM — 6PM. House 20A.  The exhib­it fea­tures less-than-pris­tine cos­tumes from muse­um col­lec­tions. Although the con­di­tion of the gar­ments is too poor for them to be dis­played in muse­ums, the Empire His­toric Arts Fund believes they remain a resource for those inter­est­ed in 19th cen­tu­ry fash­ion design. 

[cap­tion id=“attachment_7748” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]Just one of the many captivating outfits from the "Tattered & Torn" exhibit. Just one of the many cap­ti­vat­ing out­fits from the ​“Tat­tered & Torn” exhib­it. Image Cour­tesy of Art Observer.[/caption]

- Mu-Math: Mobile Math Unit to Pro­mote Math­e­mat­i­cal Think­ing (Pre­sent­ed by Liv­ing Bet­ter Through Math­e­mat­ics). Week­ends 11AM — 5PM. House 20B. Fea­tur­ing a dozen dif­fer­ent math­e­mat­ics inves­ti­ga­tions rang­ing from alge­bra to topol­o­gy, the exhib­it is appro­pri­ate for the math curi­ous begin­ning with age 7 and end­ing with those who con­sid­er them­selves ​“age­less.”

For a detailed list­ing on all the exhibits both in Nolan Park and through­out the Island this sum­mer, vis­it http://​www​.gov​is​land​.com/​h​t​m​l​/​v​i​s​i​t​/​c​a​l​e​n​d​a​r​.​shtml!

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